(THIS CATCH WAS REPORTED BEFORE THE END OF THE RIVER SEASON ON MARCH 15TH)
As the curtain fell on the river season, anglers across the nation signed off in style with some truly memorable catches. But one man enjoyed a run of fish that might just top the lot.
Hertfordshire angler Steve Fenton spent his final weeks on the Lee Navigation – a canalised section of the River Lea, running from Hertford all the way to London.
He was targeting chub, using a breadflake hookbait alongside a feeder packed with liquidised feed, and had caught a trio of six-pounders in what had already been a very productive campaign.
On his next trip, though, his catches reached a different level, when he hooked and landed a 41lb 6oz carp.
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“I knew this was no chub the moment I hooked it,” said Steve, who used a 7lb hooklink and a size 8 hook.
“It went over 30 yards downstream and continued to chug away in the middle, forcing me to backwind several times.
“Eventually, I coaxed it into the net and asked a passing runner to take the picture. The fish was too big for me to try a self-take photo with!”
That carp alone made the session one to remember, but later in the day he landed a chub of 7lb 13oz – his biggest ever from the ‘Nav’.
“The bite was a little drop- back, and the fish headed straight towards me,” he said.
“I thought it was small initially, but it fought well under the rod tip. That fish capped a truly brilliant day.”
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But Steve wasn’t done yet. A few days later he was back and, amazingly, landed another carp, this time weighing 24lb 7oz, plus a brown trout of 12lb!
“Although it was almost half the size, that carp fought twice as hard as the 40-pounder!” Steve added.
“I thought the trout was a foul hooked barbel, as you get the odd one in the Lee Nav. You just don’t know what you’ll catch next here – it’s full of surprises!”
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